Category: travel

Project 8: Day 2

July 27, 2010

Today we made the two-hour journey from Pensacola to Gulfport, the home of IMMS. Of course, we’re doing this in a U-Haul, so it was a bit of a bumpy ride. But U-Hauls have come a long way since my early twenties, and I was surprised by the gentle-ish ride. (Of course, by the time we made the two hour trip back, I was more than happy to turn in the keys.)

We had a fantastic time learning about their facility, and even got a behind-the-scenes tour of the turtle rehabilitation facility. It was so heartwarming to see all these turtles, big and small, swimming around, looking healthy as can be. I can easily fast-forward twenty years in my head and see Neko busy at work in a facility like this.

Of course, we had our share of seven-year-old moments (gift shop…you are my nemesis), but all in all, the whole trip went really well.

(Plus, there was a bonus three-legged bearded dragon, which always makes the day go well.)

Spending so much time together this trip, I’ve learned a few new things about Neko, which is always the best part of these sorts of trips.

1. When she grows up, she wants to be a Nature Girl. This isn’t the first time she’s declared this as her future profession, but I finally had a chance to ask exactly what that meant. Apparently, a Nature Girl is someone who lives in the woods and takes care of nature. You build a house out of all natural things, and you don’t live with your family any more. Although, she did concede that her friends could come live with her if they decided to be Nature Girls, too. I hope Nature Girls still come home to visit their parents to do their laundry.

2. She’s afraid of going to the movies. There’s always a scary part somewhere in the middle, and it terrifies her. I could go into a whole English lesson about rising action and conflict, and how she just needs to hang in there for the denouement, but it seemed pointless. So instead of going to Beezus and Ramona, we went home and watched two hours of Ace of Cakes. In our pajamas. Which was awesome.

3. She’s really a homebody. I thought with it being just the two of us, we’d go out for a fancy dinner (i.e. no drive-thru), and she’d be thrilled by the novelty of it. But she fought me tooth and nail. So tonight we ate take-out while tucked under the covers, and she couldn’t have been happier.

Tomorrow we fly home, but we hope to visit the beach before we go! Just looking, no swimming.
Project 8: Day 1

July 26, 2010

Ever since the Gulf oil spill occurred, Neko has been worried. She can’t figure out why they aren’t just plugging the leak. (Oy, trying explaining those physics to a seven-year-old when you don’t really understand them yourself). She’s really worried about the effect it will have on the ecosystem and the marine life that lives within it. One day I let her see a slide show of AP images, as I was tired of dodging the truth.

Now every day she asks if they’ve fixed it yet.

And as much as I know that everyone is doing everything they can to remedy the situation, that’s not very tangible for a little person.

So when I found out what CraftHope was doing to help gather supplies for The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, I knew that was right up our alley. Together, Neko and I could craft our own donation. But the more I read, the more I realized that what they needed was help with transportation, rather than more donations.

I thought Kimberly, who was receiving donations in her tiny house in Pensacola, might balk at the idea of strangers offering to help transport, but she didn’t. (Once I saw how many boxes she was storing in her tiny house, I understood!) So I gathered our SkyMiles, and booked a U-Haul, and we left our quick trip to Pensacola.

So far, our trip has been fantastic. Tomorrow we drive several hours to Gulfport, where we will make our delivery to IMMS and see what their organization has been doing to help. Already, I feel Neko feeling better about this situation specifically, but also about her ability to create change on a grander scale. And that, my friends, is worth every SkyMile.
Home

July 16, 2010

Technically, we had the vacation house for one more day. But last night Tom and I talked about the trip. There had been lots of swimming, biking, beaching, exploring, and good times with family and friends. We felt like vacation was complete. It seemed if we stayed one more day, it might become that scenario where that tv show you love stays on one season too long—suddenly everyone is not as happy and the jokes are nowhere near as funny. We decided to leave on a high note, even if that meant leaving a day early.

So we emptied the sand from our shoes and packed our bags and loaded everyone into the car at the crack of dawn. The kids held up spectacularly well for the whole drive, as we only stopped by food and bathroom breaks. Hooray for good spirits and the hourly diversions.

A fantastic trip, but, oh, how I love my own bed after being away.
Vacation: Day 7.5, Dolphin Tour

July 15, 2010

99% of our vacation we spent hunkered down at the house. We never once went out to eat (although the grown-ups ordered in a few times). We left the house to bike, go to the grocery store, or hit the beach, but left for very little else.

We did, however, decide our one tourist venture would be to seek out some dolphins. They head into the lagoon in search of dinner, which makes for a great viewing opportunity. Unfortunately, the dolphins were way more interested in looking for food than entertaining us, but we did get to see them slip in and out of the water here and there.

Scott, our faithful captain, kept us entertained with showing us the zillions of oysters, viewable when the tide comes in (the first photo). He even pulled a crab on board for inspection. But mostly the kids loved the speedboat, zooming through the water. Ellery did almost fall asleep at one point, which is a hazard of scheduling our tour during nap time.

Undoubtedly, the tour was well worth leaving the house. But then we went home, put our bathing suits back on, and got back to business as usual.
Vacation: Day 7, The Beach

July 15, 2010
Vacation: Day 6, The Pool

July 14, 2010

Oh, how these children love the pool. If they had their way, they’d never go to the beach. None of them can really get past the salty part, and they’re too small to really grasp the awesomeness of boogie boarding. Only Ellery loves it, as she is content to hang out in the world’s largest sandbox, mixing and stirring and building.

So we’re spending a lot of time in the pool.

Clearly, the best investment we’ve made so far is the killer whale pool toy, which has Neko beside herself with excitement. She’s been dreaming of a killer whale she can really ride, and before our eyes she has transformed the pool into our own private Shamu show.

Shep? He’s hiding from the camera this trip. But I swear he was here.
Shep discovers Pac Man

July 14, 2010

My camera was still defogging for the day when I shot this, but I couldn’t miss the moment.

D has Pac Man on her iPad. When Shep discovered this, he gave it a try. And then he became a little obsessed.

While waiting for us to allow them in the pool (no pool before 9am…aren’t we unreasonable?), he built this Pac Man replica with his Bakugan ball as Pac Man and his GoGos as dots. It’s like we’re back in the 80’s around here, with all the dot eating sounds in the background.
Vacation: Days 2–5, The Beach

July 13, 2010

We made it. The house is stocked. The beach is beautiful. The pool is great, although the shallow end could be about a foot shorter (Shep is barely able to keep his mouth above water).

But documentation? Not so good. Between the humidity, the air conditioned house where I keep my camera, and the record-setting high temperatures outside, a recipe for photo disaster was created.

Every time I took my camera outside, the lens fogged up. For hours. Then I would take it inside, and I’d have the same problem in reverse. It took me until mid-week to learn to set my camera out on the porch first thing in the morning to let it heat up before the activities began.

So in the days in between we’ve been enjoying vacation. The kids are swimming nearly every spare moment. There are bike paths everywhere, of which Neko and I have been making good use. R&D have joined us for the first portion of the trip, which has been great, since we don’t see anywhere near enough of them. That four adults to three kids ratio is pretty spectacular, too.

So just imagine that there are nice photos here. And a phone call to my brother-in-law Doug to wish him a happy birthday, which was Monday, because somehow that did not get scheduled as a recurring event on my calendar. Happy birthday, Doug!

The lesson here? Technology is nice to have, but is just as finicky as anything else.
Vacation: Day 1, Asheville

July 9, 2010

With a massive drive to make to get to the beach, we decided it might be wise to break it into two chunks. So we stopped to see an old friend along the way. She has two kids, so it was perfect for us all to hook up.

One of the features of the place Julie took us to was a working farm. Where, out of all there was to do, Neko found a huge pen of chickens, and reached nirvana. I love that we travel so far to see new things, and she seeks out the comforts of home.

It was fantastic to see Julie and the kids, and we were overwhelmed by her hospitality. Exhausted, everyone climbed into bed far too late, trying to catch a few hours of sleep before we continued our journey.
Chicago: Day Two

March 27, 2010

Someone woke up at 5:30am and wondered why the American Girl store wouldn’t open like…NOW. She passed the time by pretending to be a seal and repeatedly diving headfirst into the water (sliding off the end of the bed headfirst onto the floor). I passed the time by repeatedly saying “Shhhhhh!” and cursing the lack of Noggin on the television.

By 8:45am, we scurried off to the store. She ran. I tried to keep up. We were there when they unlocked the doors. Then we gazed. And oooo-ed and ah-ed. She spent much of her time with a furrowed brow wondering what she would choose as the one thing to spend her allowance on. She finally came to a conclusion.

Then lunch at the American Girl Cafe. A special seat for Chrissa, complete with a tiny doll dish and cup. The food was mediocre, but the smiles were huge.

By afternoon we were at the Field Museum. A quiet trip where I followed her lead. No 3D films or special exhibitions. She was thrilled to see Sue, despite the frown in the photo. And we always love a Brachiosaurus bonus.

Round trip on the bus for my girl itching to try public transportation.

Hot cocoa at Ghirardelli and back to the hotel for dinner and a bath. Marc sent us fancy-schmancy birthday cake, which put her on cloud nine (is there cloud ten?). And then off to bed (reluctantly).

I am so, so lucky to have this time with my kiddo.

Gotta scoot. I have a six seven-year-old who wants me to cuddle.